System and Method for Scoring Stream Data

1. A method, comprising: receiving a feed which includes content from at least one data source; selecting one of a plurality of scoring methods for scoring the content based on a velocity of the feed, wherein selecting one of a plurality of scoring methods includes comparing the velocity of the feed to a predetermined threshold value and selecting either a first scoring method if the velocity is at or below the threshold value or a second scoring method if the velocity is above the threshold value, wherein said second scoring method allows content to be scored faster than the first scoring method; determining which content in the feed is appropriate for display by producing a score in accordance with the selected scoring method, wherein the selected scoring method uses a plurality of weighted scoring factors which alter the score based on whether the content includes objectionable material determined in accordance with user-defined criteria; and determining whether content is to be rendered on at least one rendering device based on the score assigned to the content.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein an interface permits a user to define the scoring factors and to define weights which are assigned to the scoring factors.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content is comprised of text data, and fuzzy matching is employed to identify alternative, non-conventional representations of words or phrases for comparison against a conventional representation of a word or phrase by manipulating the text data with at least one of the following operations: removing all characters outside of the standard A-Z and a-z character sets; removing characters which have been repeated more than twice consecutively; removing words which are phonetically identical; and running a character replacement match.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conforming a plurality of data sources containing content in a plurality of different formats into a uniform format using a plurality of XML style sheets, each of which is uniquely tailored to convert a particular data source format into the uniform format.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing a score includes at least one of: determining whether the content includes information with a non-conforming character set or regional encoding; determining whether the content includes code or machine data; and determining whether the content is age appropriate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content comprises at least one of audio data, video data and image data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing the score includes determining whether a piece of content includes a suspect portion which could reduce a probability that the piece of content is to be rendered depending upon a context in which the suspect portion is being used, and further determining the context in which the suspect portion is being used by searching surrounding content for a clarifying portion which helps to determine the context in which the suspect portion is being used.

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable program code for implementing a network coding scheme, said computer program product when executed performs the steps as recited in claim 1 .

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing a score includes at least one of: determining whether the content includes information with a non-conforming character set or regional encoding; determining whether the content includes code or machine data; and determining whether the content is age appropriate.

10. A system, comprising: a feed combine module configured to produce a feed which includes content from at least one data source; an auger module stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and configured to select a scoring method for scoring the content in the feed based on a velocity of the feed, wherein the scoring method is selected by comparing the velocity of the feed to a predetermined threshold value and by selecting either a first scoring method if the velocity is at or below the threshold value or a second scoring method if the velocity is above the threshold value, wherein said second scoring method allows content to be scored faster than the first scoring method, and the auger module being further configured to determine which content in the feed is appropriate for display by producing a score in accordance with the selected scoring method, wherein the scoring method uses a plurality of weighted scoring factors which alter the score based on whether the content includes objectionable material determined in accordance with user-defined criteria; and a transmitter module configured to prioritize the content to determine an order in which the content will be rendered by at least one rendering device based on the scores assigned to the content.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein an interface permits a user to define the scoring factors and to define weights which are assigned to the scoring factors.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the content is comprised of text data, and fuzzy matching is employed to identify alternative, non-conventional representations of words or phrases for comparison against a conventional representation of a word or phrase by manipulating the text data with at least one of the following operations: removing all characters outside of the standard A-Z and a-z character sets; removing characters which have been repeated more than twice consecutively; removing words which are phonetically identical; and running a character replacement match.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein producing a score includes at least one of: determining whether the content includes information with a non-conforming character set or regional encoding; determining whether the content includes code or machine data; and determining whether the content is age appropriate.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the content comprises at least one of audio data, video data and image data.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein producing the score includes determining whether a piece of content includes a suspect portion which could reduce a probability that the piece of content is to be rendered depending upon a context in which the suspect portion is being used, and further determining the context in which the suspect portion is being used by searching surrounding content for a clarifying portion which helps to determine the context in which the suspect portion is being used.

16. A method, comprising: receiving a feed which includes content from at least one data source; selecting one of a plurality of scoring methods for scoring the content based on a velocity of the feed; determining which content in the feed is appropriate for display by producing a score in accordance with a selected scoring method, wherein the selected scoring method uses a plurality of weighted scoring factors which alter the score based on whether the content includes objectionable material determined in accordance with user-defined criteria, wherein the content is comprised of text data, and fuzzy matching is employed to identify alternative, non-conventional representations of words or phrases for comparison against a conventional representation of a word or phrase by manipulating the text data with at least one of the following operations: removing all characters outside of the standard A-Z and a-z character sets; removing characters which have been repeated more than twice consecutively; removing words which are phonetically identical; and running a character replacement match; and determining whether content is to be rendered on at least one rendering device based on the score assigned to the content.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein selecting one of a plurality of scoring methods includes comparing the velocity of the feed to a predetermined threshold value and selecting either a first scoring method if the velocity is at or below the threshold value or a second scoring method if the velocity is above the threshold value, wherein said second scoring method allows content to be scored faster than the first scoring method.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein an interface permits a user to define the scoring factors and to define weights which are assigned to the scoring factors.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising conforming a plurality of data sources containing content in a plurality of different formats into a uniform format using a plurality of XML style sheets, each of which is uniquely tailored to convert a particular data source format into the uniform format.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein producing the score includes determining whether a piece of content includes a suspect portion which could reduce a probability that the piece of content is to be rendered depending upon a context in which the suspect portion is being used, and further determining the context in which the suspect portion is being used by searching surrounding content for a clarifying portion which helps to determine the context in which the suspect portion is being used.

21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer executable program code for implementing a network coding scheme, said computer program product when executed performs the steps as recited in claim 16 .